MM IB or MBB?

Stuck between these options now. I haven't had a positive recruiting cycle with BBs and such. I have an offer from a notable MM IB in London and an offer from MBB firm. The latter based in Madrid (where I studied).

What I want long-term: no idea, especially now given the instability in banking.

Thoughts?

8 Comments
 

MMs is sought to be a bit more 'recessionary-proof'; given the volume of sponsor-led deals and other factors, there will always be activity and deal-flow in the MMs. If you want to have a crack at banking but don't know if you want to do PE, take the MM offer because you can always lateral if you have a change of heart. For the MBB, you will have the 'prestige/brand' on your CV and you'll work where you studied (I don't know if you want to stay or leave Madrid). If you do want to shift into PE and other industries, the MBB will be very helpful for you to do so. 

Hope this helps and best of luck 

 

MMs is sought to be a bit more 'recessionary-proof'; given the volume of sponsor-led deals and other factors, there will always be activity and deal-flow in the MMs

in what world does this make sense? why would sponsor led deals be less prone to recession, and why would an MM be best positioned to take advantage of them? this makes no sense especially considering MBB literally has a reputation for not laying off or stopping hiring during recessions

 

MM IB tends to be more fee driven from M&A rather than capital markets and, at least in the current environment, M&A is proving to be significantly more resilient, particularly with these smaller MM deals. All the MMs I know of are currently still grinding out transactions relative to their BB counterparts.

Don’t know anything about how this compares to MBB though since I don’t know anything about consulting.

 

You’re clearly out of your depth here. MM deals are understood to not be hit as hard. Larger deals are more sensitive to macro-economic outlook because there’s more money on the table. Smaller deals continue getting made even during a recession. Additionally, sponsor M&A activity generally isn’t hit has hard by downturns because there is opportunity a la “be greedy when others are fearful.” 

 
Most Helpful

I will skip shitting on you since the people above accurately pointed out that MM banks live on sponsor fees and sponsors have a lot of money they need to deploy come hell or high water.

I will, however, point out that OP’s point was MM IB vs MBB and they are concerned about the volatility in IB now. Yes, MBB is likely more stable than IB. MM banks vs BB tend to be more recession proof because they aren’t surviving off capital markets fees. A few of the MM banks I believe have made soft statements that they do not plan to do layoffs. Blair for example didn’t do layoffs in 2008 and their ones in 2020 were performance based.

As for MBB, they don’t like layoffs for the same reason private banks that can eat a few bad quarters: when the market recovers youre understaffed and trying to compete for talent quickly. And, layoffs reduce moral and make employees think “when times get bad they’ll just ax me,” which is unideal for a human capital intensive business.

ADDENDUM: Baird does like layoffs and MBB will just soft lay you off (counsel you out faster).

 

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